During my last of many visits to the Piedras Marcadas rock art site I noticed for the first time that there are several examples of hand representations with extra fingers. Such images are said to be common throughout the Southwest; the first time I saw an example of polydactyly was at the Three Rivers site north of Alamogordo. Feet with extra digits also appear frequently.
It is apparent from the frequency of appearance that extra fingers and toes held some special - possibly spiritual- importance to the indigenous people of the area. The juxtaposition of a six-fingered hand with a snake figure in my picture at the Three Rivers site suggests the possibility of a link with ceremonial snake handling.
Excavated burials have shown some support for the idea that community members with polydactyly enjoyed special status such as in this article from the National Library of Medicine:
...One can speculate if these individuals might have had a special role in their society. A burial of an infant with pedal polydactyly at Tapia del Cerrito in Arizona showed indications of importance [4]. The majority of burials at this site are under room blocks or in unused rooms. Few burials contain artifacts of any value. Positioning can also be a significant. This child was buried in the central plaza in an unusual clay-lined grave, faced northeast, and was accompanied by a type of pot rare in child burials. This child had special status, but the relationship to its polydactyly is unclear. There is also a report of a high status Freemont burial of a male with polydactyly, and the bifid metatarsals at Chaco were found in a major burial with turquoise and other valuables. There is also speculation linking the Chaco individual to the male found at Sand Canyon, based upon other congenital differences and similar rich burials [6]. A familial relationship would be an important factor in documenting the location of émigrés from Chaco after the society collapsed, and it may provide us with an idea about the rulers of the Ancestral Puebloan world...
